17 comments:

Likely political propaganda. Al Baker always does this. Trash others when he cant get what he wants and when he wants it. Unless we hear what the specific reliability issues are, the claims are unsubstantiated. Issues with supply chain are expected. Teething problems are also common but at least we know these aircraft are flying without catching on fire and getting grounded. So whatever the teething problems, they are not severe enough to make international news.

So the A350 started with "perfect" reliability. Exactly how was it supposed to get better? :-) If the reliability is significantly below what Airbus promised, then we have a news story. But, again, no numbers.

.Sounds to me like supply problems,why doesn't Airbus come out and say so? Why protect them when your own record is being besmirched? There have been delivery problems we know but mouthing off like this is not the way to do business.JC

This might be why planes in the assembly line are taking forever to get out the door. Airbus might be pulling parts off them to send to customers in order to keep the fleet airborne. With all the silence we may never know.

Just as a layman, what I don't understand is how Airbus can max on the A320 and A330 yet when it comes to the A350?. It sounds a little more than just supply problems,tight lipped and keeping its powder dry seems to be Airbus's stance at the moment. Not much else it can do. The American Media is just itching to run in down, anything to smear Airbus.The supply chain is small,not much room to go elsewhere, which would be the thing to do, so Airbus is caught between a rock and a hard place. Still think that they(Airbus) should name names, let everybody know that its not Airbus causing all these problems. 1st it was Qatar in January(late delivery) then only 10 delivered in as many months-then Finnair (had to reschedule its operations for the new A350's coming a month late and now more delays to Qatar. Lets hope that these things can be sorted and fast. Good luck Airbus-you need it.JC

Airbus is not Boeing ( who invariably pointed at others for their self caused vagaries )Even if they do have supplier problems this is owned by Airbus.Ping ponging blame doesn't improve anything.Working as a team an not snitching on each other is the way to go.

I don't think that the American media is looking for a story to publish. What hurt Boeing is how much it over promised and under delivered. For whatever reason Airbus is pumping out A350's quite slowly. One aspect to consider is that Boeing and Airbus share the same suppliers minus a handful. If it were a supplier issue, like Zodiac with the seats we would know. But this seems to be deeper, hence the silence.

So far I have traveled 4 legs with Qatar - 2 with their B787 and 2 with A330's.We had technical problems on both 787 legs and even had to deplane and board a replacement on one. Remain in an plane without any aircon for 2 hours at Doha airport at 9 in the morning is no fun. Relax, Boeing makes good products so I am not dissing them. What I mean is that how bad must the A350's be to catch Al combover's attention?

I don't know why everyone thinks we'll hear about every issue. Airbus has a contractual and commercial relationship with its customers which will likely restrict what each can say. It's normal for this to be more restrictive on the supplier. Also, Airbus is a listed company. Any announcement that could have a significant impact on costs or revenues must be announced in the proper manner - I.e to the markets and shareholders.

Boeing is also a listed company, and we had 10 times more information from Boeing and the media on the 787 than we do on the A350. Either the media doesn't care for the A350, or European media is not as aggressive. We also have to remember Airbus operates with a lot of backing from several big European governments, so their interests are also on the line.